While Wanye is trekking all over hell's half acre, your ol' pal baggedmilk is digging around the Nation HQ warehouse for stuff to give away. I looked through what we have in inventory, begged a few sponsors for GCs and am ready to give away some prizes. As such, I think it's time for another Photoshop Contest. As the saying goes, when the boss is away the Nation will play... or something like that.

The Same Old Story

When the season started there were some pretty lofty expectations for the Oilers to make the playoffs, or in the very least, they were supposed to challenge for a spot (they were challenged alright). In our wildest dreams, could anyone have expected the Oilers to be eliminated from the playoffs in November? That has to be a new record, right? At least the rebuild is setting records and that's something we can all be proud of! *sigh*

Anyway...

The last time we did a photoshop contest, Ilya Bryzgalov had just signed and we were all hopeful a new goalie would bring new fortunes to Oil Country. Ok, so maybe 'hopeful' is too strong of a word. Maybe we thought that the Oilers would suck slightly less with a goalie that could stop pucks above the waist? Either way, we're here again without a playoff team to cheer for so we'd might as well make some fun out of it.

Offseason Training

Spring is always better in Edmonton when the Oilers are in the playoffs. I remember high fiving so many strangers, in 2006, that there wasn't enough Purell to clean the grimy filth off my hands - it was beautiful. It's sad to think that those sweaty palmed high fives, hugging strangers, and taking my shirt off for Horcoff was almost a decade ago! Once again, it's early May and rather than cheering for our beloved Oil in the 2nd round we're arguing about who we should draft in June. It's a movie we've seen before and frankly the ending sucks.

At the end of the season, the players always vow to be better next season and that they want to take the next step into the playoffs. I trust that that's true. I honestly believe that Taylor Hall will be spending 28 hours/day in the gym and that Lil Nugey will be eating cheeseburgers all summer long to try and gain 3/4 of a pound, but what else are they doing to get better? Is Taylor Hall lifting buildings? Is Jordan Eberle running up those Rocky stairs, in Philly, with his finest grey sweatsuit on? That's where you come in.

The Contest

We've all seen the movies with the Kenny Loggins montage that shows the hero getting ready for battle and this is what I'm picturing here. I'm thinking of Jordan Eberle in rural Saskatchewan tossing bails to get ripped like Hercules era Arnold Schwarzenegger. I'm seeing Nail Yakupov, as Atlas, carrying the world on his shoulders. I'm imagining Justin Schultz practicing slap shots until they blast through 15 foot marble slabs! I don't know, you're the one that has to come up with the idea I'm just here to give things away.

Everyone that enters will get a $5 Oodle Noodle GC and a Nation Sticker package

The sky is the limit here as long as your entry relates to the Oilers offseason training. The deadline to enter will be Tuesday at midnight (May 13th) and all entries will show up on the Nation a week from today. The winner will be selected through the Nation Polls and prizes will be distributed accordingly.